The Aftermath: United at Blackburn

Be ashamed Dimitar, be very ashamed.

The Breakdown

Blackburn 0-0 United.

A glorious gilt-edge, one-on-one chance squandered by Valencia in the first half, and a mis-firing Dimitar Berbatov sees United drop two points at Ewood. In a fiendishly frustrating match which never really got started, a compact Rovers side smothered any attack that came their way. Infrequent forays into our half saw United dominate possession. But so evident was that missing quality at the right end of the field, which really cost United in this one. Wayne's wonderful wizardry badly needed. Or a bit of Owen's, or Macheda's, magic right at the death.

Reaction

Berbatov really went missing today, in my opinion. When we needed magic, he gave us more moping than the mastery expected. I must admit I like Berbatov, but against a Blackburn side who've got a good home record and aren't about to play pretty football, a bit of digging in was needed—not looking around asking his team mates why the ball wasn't played into his feet.

Best player: I'd have to give it to Blackburn's Phil Jones. Made terrific tackles and blocks on our strikers and wingers. Imagine. I can't even think of the smallest excuse to give it to a United player this time.

Where We Stood, Where We Stand

Very much two points dropped at Ewood today. The draw takes us to 73 pts, one behind Chelski, but a game behind. The impetus sits squarely on Chelsea now who play Bolton on Tuesday. Arsenal face Spurs in the North London derby the next day, so it's a doubly fantastic for Chelsea, and an evermore devastating blow for United, who badly needed to turn the screw here and start off the first of the last five games of the season with a victory.

All we can do now is hope for a favour from our Lancashire neighbours against Chelsea (a thumping 5-0 win, please Bolton. Thanks), otherwise the gloom sets in on Old Trafford this season, with only the Carling Cup to show for it.

As it stands:

1|Chelsea|33P|54GD|74PTS
2|United |34P|50GD|73PTS
3|Arsenal|33P|41GD|71PTS

Gameday: United at Blackburn

The 411:
So after dropping a couple points last time out against Chelsea and losing their last three games overall, I'm kinda REALLY anxious for a win now. Let's hope the Devils can get back to their winning ways tonight at Ewood Park.

Chasing the Title:
So, Chelsea's just played and won their FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa. That means that they don't have a game till Tuesday night and that gives us the chance to put the pressure on them with a win tonight. That'll take us to 75 points, one ahead of Chelsea and one game ahead as well. Also, Arsenal aren't in action till Wednesday. So if there's any time to show them we still want this, it's tonight.

Where We Stand:
1|Chelsea|33P|54GD|74PTS
2|United|33P|50GD|72PTS
3|Arsenal|33P|41GD|71PTS
4|Man. City|32P|24GD|59PTS
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5|Spurs|32P|26GD|58PTS

Enemy Form:
Blackburn are 11th in the table and are WWD in their last three games. They're not really fighting for Europe or fending off relegation so it looks like they'll just be playing to beat us tonight.

Players to Look Out For:
Well the infamous El Hadji Diouf plays for the Rovers and yeah, as if we don't need another reason to hate him, turns out he's an irresponsible driver as well.
Anywho, Ewood Park is one of the few places where he doesn't get booed too much, but we'll see won't we?

On the Home Front:
Wayne Rooney is out for this one and I honestly have no idea how Fergie's gonna line 'em up tonight. Personally I think he'll go for Berba up front and use the players that destroyed Bayern Munich in the first 40 minutes on Wednesday.

UPDATED LINE UPS: Here is the definite team for tonight
van der Sar
Neville
Ferdinand
Vidic
O'Shea
Valencia
Scholes
Giggs
Nani
Berbatov
Macheda

Subs:
Kuszczak
Evra
Evans
Park
Gibson
Fletcher
Obertan

TSR's Thoughts:
1. We lost it after that first goal, things just started looking down. When Rafael got sent off, that just killed it for us. SO hopefully we can play a full game today with no worries.
2. Can Berbatov get out of the slump he's in right now? We all know he's capable of it, but he hasn't been living up to anyone's expectations over the past few weeks.

But yeah, let's hope for a win today and put one more hand back on that oh-so-shiny league trophy we want.